Out of the Closet
by murphy-gurl
Summary: Lynn Fleetguard is a teenage Shadowhunter at the Institute, trying to subtly and nonchalantly set Clary and Jace up.


Isabelle flopped onto my bed. "Jace brought a mundie here." She sounded exasperated.

"Hmm?" I was in my closet, lovingly stashing my newest addition: Louis Vouitton booties, fresh from the box, still with that new shoe smell to them.

"Jace. Brought. A. Mundane. Girl. Here." Isabelle drew out her words, as though I was a 3 year old.

That got me out of the closet. "What?"

"Last night. She got stung by a ravener, and she was totally unconscious. He actually carried her in." Isabelle did nothing to disguise the distaste in her voice. "She's in the Infirmary now, asleep."

"What did Hodge say?" I asked.

"She was the one we met in Pandemonium that night, who could see us, and Hodge had sent Jace to bring her here anyway."

The one time I don't go out to demon-hunt, something weird happens. I would never live this one down.

I joined Isabelle on my bed, perching on the edge. "So what are we doing?"

"Ask Jace." The other girl picked herself up and flounced out of the room.

Oh, I would. But first, the booties. I had a bit of an addiction to fashion. It wasn't that I bought something every second, or I couldn't think straight unless I was shopping, I just had expensive taste. A Burberry trench coat, Chanel suits and dresses, Gucci bags, Guess jeans, a pair of Christian Louboutin pumps. Isabelle and I both took our outward appearances very seriously when it was time to act as demon bait. However, I went for the classier, pulled together look while she experimented with whatever her heart desired.

The shelf I devoted to shoes was almost full now. My high heeled ankle boots fit snugly in, and I admired them for the umpteenth time; warm brown, embossed patent leather, and a four and a half inch heel.

I tore myself away and shut the closet door, heading out of my room and down the hall. The familiar corridor wound its way through the Institute. I leapt down two flights of stairs and stopped at the Infirmary doors.

I could hear whispering; Alec and most likely Jace.

"Alec, you know it's bad luck to talk about death in a sick room."

Definitely Jace.

I pushed open the doors. "Hey. I hear we have a mundie in our midst?"

Alec gestured to the bed that he and Jace were clustered around. "Yep."

I sat down on the bed beside them and looked. "How old is she?"

"Look, I know she looks tiny, but she's as old as Isabelle." Jace sounded defensive.

"All right, all right. So what happened, why is she here?"

Alec looked pained. "This is the one we saw at-"

"Yeah, yeah, I wasn't at Pandemonium the one time. You told me she could see you, but that was yesterday. Why is she here today?"

"I was getting to that."

"No, you weren't." Jace said, bored. "Hodge thought it would be a good idea to bring her here- to see what she knows. I went to go find her- we were talking outside one of those Java Jones places- and she got a call from her mother. She was upset, and I tried to find out what happened, but she ran away. I followed her to her house, and when I came inside she was unconscious on the floor with a dead ravener in her neck."

"And you brought her _here_?"

Alec made an annoyed sort of huff sound and slouched out, slamming the door behind him. I immediately glanced down at the curly red hair peeking over the white blankets, but the girl didn't even stir.

"Lynn, when I found her, she had the ravener stinger in her neck. She woke up once I got her out of the building, but she couldn't walk. I couldn't carry her around the streets of New York back to the Institute." He ran a hand through his hair, distractedly.

I sensed his apprehension, which was, for Jace, unusual. "So… what did you do?"

"I marked her. To hide and conceal."

"Are you serious?"

"Damn straight."

"Did it ever occur to you that you could have killed her?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low.

"Yes, it did. But she's okay now, and it just proves my theory."

"You have a _theory_? This is a person, Jace, not a lab specimen."

"I am well aware of that. But she can withstand a Covenant Mark. She must have Shadowhunter blood. It's the only possible explanation. Look," he reached under the pillow and drew out a small, freckled arm. He turned the girls' wrist over, and showed me the faint white scar, barely visible.

"Did you tell Hodge?"

"Not yet." Jace tucked the girl's arm back under the blankets.

"Did you tell Alec?"

"No. And if you tell Alec before I have the chance to explain to Hodge, I will make sure you're demon bait for the rest of your life."

Damn, he was good. I resented very much playing the role of eye candy when it was necessary in order to lure a demon in.

"May I ask why you didn't tell Alec?"

"He doesn't care. You could see that. And if I did tell him, he wouldn't have handled it half as well as you just did. I would have had to take him out of the Infirmary so he could yell."

I grinned at him. "Why, thank you. Have any more theories you'd like to share with me?"

"As of now, no. I am wondering, as I believe you also are, why a ravener was found in her house, and why her mother is gone. She was alone in the house, and I got the feeling that something had happened when her mom called, on her mother's side of the line."

"I don't know. What's her name? Is it Nephilim?"

"No, I can't find anything on the Frays. She said her name is Clary, and the apartment she was in was Jocelyn Fray's residence."

"What about her father?"

"I think Jocelyn was a single mother."

"So now her mother's gone, we don't know about a father, and she will be staying here until something changes?"

"For now."

"Alec's gonna be pissed." I observed, then added, "And Isabelle didn't seem too happy about it when she told me."

"Like I care." Jace looked down again at the sleeping girl, and I detected a hint of softness in his gaze. If Jace liked someone, this would be new. He and I had always had more of a brother-sister relationship. I found he would talk to me about anything that was on his mind, and I went to him when I had a problem. It was a mutual understanding; neither of us was close enough with any of the other Shadowhunters at the Institute.

"Come on, I have to show you my Louis Vuittons." We walked to the door, and then made our way back to my room.

"You got them?" He asked, interested. Jace, full of surprises, liked expensive clothing almost as much as I did.

"Yup. They're pretty amazing."

I shoved open the door to my room, and brought them out of the closet with a flourish.

"Nice. Do I want to know how much those cost?" He crossed the room and sank into my big leather reading chair. He immediately pulled the wooden lever, and leaned back as the footrest came up.

"Nope." I replied, and, for only the third time, put the booties on. I walked, the heels making a satisfying noise as they made contact with the floor.

"You know," Jace said conversationally, "I always like coming in here."

"Why?" I asked, looking around. I had painted the walls a metallic blue-green, and one wall was an accent gold. The furniture, the bed with its ceiling high posts, the dresser, my big leather easy chair, the bedside table, was all a deep reddish brown hue; where there was woodwork, it was mahogany. I had one wall devoted to reading, near my leather chair, with floor-to-ceiling, custom made bookshelves. They were filled with books and movies, and there were little niches in the shelving, for flowers, (as of now, I had a vase of blue hydrangeas,) a little TV with a DVD and VHS player, for when I was too bored to read, and a big vintage wooden lamp, painted a dusty blue. My bed was covered in dark golds and greens and blues, pillows and blankets all heaped together in a harmonious, but stylishly casual manner. I had an Audrey Hepburn poster on my wall right next to the dresser, in her pearls and slinky black dress. My laptop was on the desk; I had begged Mayris to let me get one until, voila! It magically appeared on my bed one day! My bedside table had another lamp on it, this one smaller, and green, and an iPod dock/alarm clock. I had put everything I could into making this room amazing for me.

I turned back to Jace. He had his eyes closed.

"Why do you always like coming in here?" I repeated, not giving up.

"Because it's so peaceful. You're always reading, or in your closet, it's so organized."

"Your room is organized, too." I felt the need to point this out.

"Yes, but your room is… you." He clearly didn't want to elaborate. I sensed something else was on his mind.

"Okay, Jace, what's up with this chick?"

The easy chair went straight back up.

"Who? Clary?"

"No, Hodge." I said, rolling my eyes.

"I hardly even know her!"

"But do you like her?"

The question had him momentarily stumped; I could tell. This was unusual, for Jace, at least.

"Do you think she likes you?" I asked, now curious.

"I don't think so… the last time we talked and she wasn't delusional from ravener poison, she slapped me…"

"What did you do?" I said, accusingly.

"Well, I threatened to abduct her…"

"Okay, I would have hit you, too, then." I said, going back into the closet and putting away my shoes.

"Hodge wanted to talk to her, and she was supposed to come back here with me, but she didn't want to, and then I was trying to talk her into it, but her phone rang, and it was her mom, and then-"

"You only ramble if you like them!" I exclaimed, triumphant. "Work on being charming, don't act like you're disgusted by her and her mundane-ness, be romantic, but not creepy."

Jace looked insulted; "I'm always charming, and since when am I creepy?"

"Do you think she's taken? If she's already with someone, you're screwed."

"Next time I bring someone here, you are not hearing of it." Jace said resignedly. "You get way too into making first impressions."

"And you have to give her the tour. And tell Alec to stop being a downer. And I won't be too nice to her; she has to like you best."

"You're crazy and I'm leaving."

"Wait, are you gonna tell Hodge about this before she gets up?"

He humphed at me, strode across the room, pulled open the door, and said indignantly, " Don't order me about! I was just about to do that."

Of course he was.


End file.
